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Long-Term Wrap-Up: 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited 4x4

May 21, 2012

Now the challenge is to find something to take the Jeep's spot in the fleet. Photo by David Arnouts

2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited 4x4

Darn it if we aren't always loath to turn in the keys to our utility vehicles, which only means that we're part of the mouth-breathing masses of SUV-driving Americans clogging up the roadways despite the protestations of our sports-car-fueled souls. Perhaps that's just the way these things work: We prefer our Porsches but can't live without cargo and towing capacity, infotainment options, all-weather capability and brainless driveability.

Such is the case with our long-term 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee. For 12 months, it shuttled us from ballparks to boat launches, from campsites to campuses, never requiring unexpected maintenance beyond the repair of a stone chip in the windshield.

When we ordered our Grand Cherokee, we did worry if opting for the Pentastar would leave us wanting for power and towing capacity. But the 3.6-liter V6 was Chrysler's shiny new corporate engine, and we were eager to try it. The 290-hp, 260-lb-ft engine was more than up to trailering our toys—sailboats and pop-ups and duck boats, among others—and comfortably ferrying four (five is a squeeze) adults and a cargo hold stuffed to the max. Its 5,000-pound tow rating more than sufficed, as did its 36.3 cubic feet with the rear seats up.

The fourth quarter saw us through to the thick of winter, but we still racked up more than 7,100 miles. And our Jeep achieved 18.8 mpg despite the challenges the coldest months presented. We'd prefer something closer to the 20-mpg mark, but given the regular-fuel requirement of the Jeep, we hardly complained. The 5.7-liter Hemi would have given us 70 more horses and 2,400 pounds of towing grunt, but we also would have lost an EPA-estimated 3 mpg in combined driving—all while paying for midgrade gasoline.

Some of the features we particularly enjoyed included the rear-seat DVD entertainment center, power liftgate, remote start and QuadraTrac II four-wheel drive. Some staffers especially liked the automatic headlights, not offered on many nonluxury rides. “Driving on dark two-lanes through Indiana,” said one editor, “I appreciated the fact that the Jeep turns the brights on automatically and turns them off the moment another car comes into view in the distance.” Another noted the Grand Cherokee's cold-weather gear, saying, “The heated steering wheel and seats spoiled me on a brisk fall morning.”

Mostly, we liked the entire package, the sum of the Jeep's parts. As an editor said, “As a daily driver, the Grand Cherokee ticks off so many boxes on the checklist: comfort, looks, quality, sound system, utility, fuel mileage (sort of). And especially if your daily drive is on the Rubicon Trail or maybe Michigan's pothole-filled freeways.”

That's not to say we didn't have quibbles. The nav system, for one, turned most of us into GPS haters. The graphics alone were enough for us to break out the paper maps. The dearth of street names, the auto-zoom at intersections, the lockout function that prevented even the front passenger from entering a destination while in motion—all highly annoying. Nothing about the Garmin-based system appealed to us.

Our animus for the nav system didn't prevent us from driving the heck out of the Jeep. Its 29,712 accumulated miles placed it in the top 10 percent of all vehicles we've had in the fleet over the last 20 years. And in that distance, we averaged 18.7 mpg and spent $5,793.94 on fuel.

Now the challenge is to find something to take the Jeep's spot in the fleet.